Michelle's post

 While reading the Ice man and the Straw husband I noticed a lot of similarities yet differences from the two men. The Straw Man was introduced to be always a kind and a perfect husband, but later on found out to be almost verbally abusive as he screams at the main character due to her accidentally hitting the door of the car. But the Ice Man was introduced to be very stoic and with no emotions. I found them similar due to both of the men not being emotionally stable enough for the women, but compared to the Ice Man the Straw Man seems to actually hurt the girlfriend by screaming at her. He fully victimizes himself and doesn’t allow for the girlfriend to explain and doesn’t give her the benefit of the doubt. The Ice Man had always refused going on vacations until the girlfriend had suggested it. That vacation had turned her into very stoic with less emotions due to the location they were at not because of anything that Ice Man had specifically had done. If anything, I think that the Straw Man has an ice heart and fakes his personality rather than the Ice man. What Ice Man did to his girlfriend wasn’t something that he had control over while the Straw Man could have controlled himself. 

When reading Dojoji I believed that if the priest had just told the girl a simple no and rejected her she wouldn’t have gotten so jealous and become a snake. I think that the priest had deceived the girl into growing up with a slight hint of hope that she would marry him. I don’t think that the girl is just a jealous girl but instead was fed lies leading her to become angry at the end. In Smartening up the girl had felt as if she should change herself and that was why her boyfriend had ended up breaking up with her. But later one as she talked to her deceased aunt she had come to a realization that she should embrace herself and love herself for who she is and not by what other may think of her. This is a switch from the Dojoji since the girl in the Dojoji had dedicated her whole life to the priest instead of healing from the rejection when the girl from Smartening had ended up healing from the rejection and learned to love herself. It is so refreshing to see the girl from Smartening up to realize her self worth and not destroy herself like the girl in Dojoji did.

Reading The Greengrocer’s Daughter and the Silently Burning had made me realize how desperate women can get about falling in love. The Greengrocer’s Daughter had broken multiple rules and ended up getting herself killed due to a guy and many girls in the Silently Burning spend a lot of money and prayers just directed towards falling in love. I love how the title of Silently Burning since it shows that there are many women that are out there silently hoping for their true love to come.

Michelle